1.3: Find and Choose Open Resources
In
this subunit you will choose and discuss a research topic of interest.
Upon successful completion of this subunit, you will be able to:
- discuss your proposed topic of research interest;
- apply advanced search skills for more productive online searches;
- implement advanced database searches on open repositories to source OER and open access research publications;
- evaluate the reliability and credibility of resources you find online for academic purposes;
- adopt and use citation management software to support your academic work; and
- publish an annotated bibliography online using the APA reference format with the help of your citation management tool.
Your assignment is to prepare an analytical essay demonstrating your digital literacies, including advanced search strategies to identify and select relevant open access resources to research, analyze, produce and present information for tertiary education purposes.
Choose a topic that interests you for this assignment. The mini learning challenge will help you choose a suitable topic.
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Choose a research topic suitable for college-level academic study to guide your search and select online resources in this learning pathway. Time: 1 hour.
Improving search skills will save you time and result in more productive searches. Google provides a number of features to improve your searches in finding open access resources.
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Advanced searching. Time: 30–45 minutes.
In this section we focus on searching database repositories. Most databases provide advanced search features, however there are differences in how each database site implements search functionality. At OERu, we focus on repositories that provide access to OER and open access resources so you do not need to pay any fees to source online resources.
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Database Search. Time: 30–45 minutes.
Searching the Internet can generate a great deal of information. While some is credible and useful, you can also find a lot of misinformation and poorly researched material. As you become more skilled at searching and locating academic resources, you will be able to determine useful and credible information more quickly. In the meantime, consider using the following evaluation framework.
Wikipedia is the free online encyclopedia created through collaborative effort of contributors from around the globe. It is one of the most popular websites and Wikipedia articles are often listed in the top search results when you conduct a general Internet search.
Anyone Wikipedia registrant can create a new article page. Anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, and registration is not required to edit existing articles.
Several studies have examined the accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Regardless of the outcomes, many educational institutions do allow students to use Wikipedia as a credible source for academic writing and research. Do you think Wikipedia is a trustworthy resource? How do you justify your opinion?
We begin with an opinion poll on the reliability of Wikipedia and invite you to annotate and comment on some articles on the topic. We invite you to apply your knowledge about evaluating online resources to using Wikipedia in the academic sphere.
Now that you have chosen four online resources for your research question, you need to evaluate the quality of these resources for the purposes of academic study.
Normally, you would evaluate your resources during your search and selection process, but we present these activities separately to introduce you to finding and choosing online resources.
In this section, we introduce digital tools that help writers manage their citations. Scholars use citation management software or reference management software to record and keep track of bibliographic citations.
There are two components:
- A citation is a verbatim quotation published in quotation marks, or a reference to a book or journal article. The citation appears within the body text.
- A reference list is a list of all the sources the author cited in the body of the work. The reference list usually appears at the end of the article, book, or text.
The required citation style determines the format you should use for citations and reference lists. Examples include the American Psychological Association (APA) format and the Oxford Citation style.
For more information on citation styles, consult the OERu micro-course Making Your Arguments More Credible.
This is a learn-by-doing challenge where you are directed to produce and share an output demonstrating your knowledge in using your preferred citation management tool.
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Practical exercise using the citation management tool your selected. Time: 1 hour
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Publish and share an annotated bibliography Time: 1–1.5 hours.
Optional: Continue to participate in the LiDA photo challenge.
